The Only Way Is Essex stars Mario Falcone and Lucy Mecklenburgh have hit out at fellow cast member James 'Arg' Argent on Twitter, making a jibe at his weight after he joked about them buying Twitter followers.

In posts that appear to have now been deleted from Twitter, Falcone wrote: "Find it funny how larg has stuff to say when I am not there to defend myself.... Strange... I have not 'bought' any twitter followers Neither has Lucy....

He went on to stress that "a recent increase" in followers was down to him emailing his contact details to a database of five million people so they could "book appointments with me for a bespoke suit service".

Mecklenburgh added on her own profile: "I can confirm me & @Mario_Falcone have never bought Twitter followers! Is that actually possible?! Unfortunately mario only got an iPod [for Valentine's Day']!"

Argent appeared to respond to the couple's comments on Twitter, stating that they "should be...good sport[s]" about his jokes.

"A roasting is a form of comedy where you take the mick out of people and tell jokes," he wrote. "Should be a good sport and take it on the chin #Banter."

Falcone and Mecklenburgh's fall-out with Argent comes after an unknown TOWIE cast member reportedly told Now that people on the show were getting fed up with "acting like absolute d**ks".

"Unfortunately they're still very important to the storyline, so they get away with acting like absolute d**ks," the star said. "We would all be fired for what Mario said [about producers]."

The Only Way Is Essex continues Sundays and Wednesdays at 10pm on ITV2.